Hidden Treasure

This house was never a home. It's in the pasture at the Ninnescah, and it served as a hunting cabin for a number of years.

The hunters don't use it any longer. They still hunt at the pasture, but they don't bunk at the cabin.

I peeked inside when we moved cattle this spring. Mostly, it's just a mess of discarded furniture whose stuffing has been pulled apart by visiting critters and a leaky roof that exposes the things left behind to the elements.

But in one of the cabinets, I found these dishes. I am under no illusion that the Antiques Roadshow will be calling any time soon. But I liked the play of light through the window on the old dinnerware. It was kind of like finding hidden treasure as I waited between loads of cattle.

It's amazing what treasures you can find, if you just take time to look.

A ride on a four-wheeler reveals the vivid colors of the prairie flowers blooming under the clear, blue Kansas sky.

The spillway in the pasture was a favorite fishing destination for Randy and our kids.

We just rent the pasture, and I understand that the owner's family also made plenty of memories dipping a fishing line in the rushing water.

Randy and Brent caught these fish at the pasture many years ago. This snapshot has been on my refrigerator since then.

So has this one, with Uncle Randy sharing his love of fishing with nieces Emily and Amanda.

When Jill and Brent were elementary school aged, Randy took them on camping trips - just Dad and the kids. They stopped at the grocery store and got to buy stuff Mom wouldn't buy. They learned important life skills like poker. They slept in a tent and floated in inner tubes. (It has been awhile since those days, but Jill wrote about her most recent outdoor adventure on her blog after a July 4th camping trip.)

And that leads us back to hidden treasure. No, the outings with Dad weren't really about junk food or poker or sleeping in a tent or fishing:

"A lifelong blessing for children is to fill them with warm memories of times together. Happy memories become treasures in the heart to pull out on the tough days of adulthood. "

Charlotte David Kasl

Wishing you a day where you uncover hidden treasures in the ordinary things of life and make extraordinary memories!